


Seaweed Crowns

by SHERlockedNloaded



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood, My poor babies, Naiads, Nightmares, annabeth!nightmares, flowercrowns, i love percy, percabeth, percabeth is key, percabeth!engaged, percabeth!nightmares, percabethforever, percy!nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24100003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHERlockedNloaded/pseuds/SHERlockedNloaded
Summary: Percy can't sleep, but decides not to wake up Annabeth (she needs the sleep, bless her). While he's trying to calm down in the lake, he meets a naiad who teaches him a new skill he never thought he'd try out.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 10
Kudos: 149





	Seaweed Crowns

Percy slipped underneath the water, trying his best to clear his mind and rid it of the nasty aftertaste of nightmares. He tried to relax as the sounds above ground were muted, hoping that his thoughts would go with them. But if anything, the silence heightened the chaos. 

But he didn’t want to go up. He hated being like this in front of Annabeth. He wanted to be calm and secure in front of her, especially in the morning. If he seemed off at all, she would get ten times more worried and she didn’t deserve that. So he stayed there, slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake, shivering and trying not to let dark thoughts take over. 

The nightmare had been worse than usual. Normally they were just about the camp going up in flames, his friends pleading for his help, the normal stuff. This one… this one took that to a whole new level. This time it was him burning the camp, him standing in the blood of his friends, holding Annabeth’s throat in his hands and squeezing. Watching her writhe, watching tears slip down her cheeks as her face slowly turns purple. Her struggles becoming weaker, her eyes flickering shut. But all he can hear is Kronos and Gaea laughing in his ears, and to his horror, he realizes that his own laughs are in the mix as well. 

Then the ground cracks and suddenly he’s falling. Darkness, heat, air whistling in his ears.  
Kronos’s laughter getting louder and louder. Gaea beckoning with Tartarus beside her, smirking victoriously. Well done, little pawn. Well done. 

When he’d woken up, he realized that he was in his cabin that night, and that Annabeth wasn’t there with him. He’d practically sprinted to Annabeth’s cabin, quietly peeking his head in to see if she was alright. She was sleeping steadily, her breaths deep and slow. Probably fairing much better than Percy because she had all of her siblings with her instead of being all alone. He decided not to bother her, not wanting to rid her of the sleep she so desperately needed. 

So he’d headed to the one place he felt safe. The ocean. His father’s domain, his second home. 

But even now he felt like he was suffocating, all his thoughts whirling in his head, past memories of drowning in earth, drowning in Tartarus, drowning with the Muses sucking all of the life out of him- much like the nightmares he was having now. 

He felt completely and utterly alone. Stuck with his nightmares, scared of himself, scared of worrying everybody else. Scared of hurting everybody else. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and curled in on himself, trying to focus on breathing and reminding himself that he could breathe. He hated being scared. All the bullies, his ex step-father, his enemies- they noticed when he was scared, and they’d always exploited it. 

But, he reminded himself, he was alone now. He’d defeated his bullies, the monsters, Smelly Gabe. He was a big boy. He needed to grow up and handle his problems like a real demigod.  
Maybe in a minute. He couldn’t bring himself to move. Down here was safe. Down here meant no monsters. 

Or if there were, he was in his element. He could defeat them with no problem. 

Percy heard (or felt, rather. Hearing was different underwater) something approach. 

Well, speak of the devil. Or at least something from hell. With a snort at his own joke, Percy pulled his pen out of his pocket and slowly uncurled from his position, searching for his new victim. That made him wince as he was reminded of his dream. New choice of words. Um… prey? No, even worse. Just enemy. There. 

There was no enemy in sight, just a concerned naiad sitting nearby. She had long billowing amber hair and hazel eyes that twinkled and a calm demeanor that immediately made him relax. 

He rubbed a hand over his face, wondering how much she’d seen. It didn’t seem right for the twice savior of Olympus (and the world) to be curled up and shivering at the bottom of a lake. He gave a weak wave and got up to leave. This was awkward and he tended to just avoid situations that he deemed uncomfortable. 

But the naiad waved her hand as if telling him to sit down. “Don’t mind me.”

Her voice was soft and sweet, like the trickling of a waterfall. Her hands were fiddling with something green and stringy, and immediately Percy’s curiosity was piqued. She seemed to notice this and scooched closer, tilting her hands to show him what she was doing. 

“Are you… making seaweed crowns?” Percy asked, returning to his sitting position.

She smiled, not looking up. “I do it when I’m nervous about something. You want to try?”

Percy wanted to protest that he wasn’t nervous, but realized that she hadn’t outright accused him of being so and that yes, he did kind of want to try. Anything to distract him from the nightmares  
was perfectly acceptable in his eyes. He nodded uncertainly.

She gestured to a basket that he hadn’t noticed. “There are the materials. Bring them over, and I will teach you.”

He nodded and grabbed what he thought was a sufficient amount of seaweed before returning. “Is this enough?”

She nodded, then paused for a moment. “Yes and no. I’ll be back.”

“Oh, okay.” He wondered what he did wrong, not surprised that he’d already messed up. “Great going, Perce.”

Then she was back, holding the strangest yet most beautiful flowers Percy had ever seen (except the ones Tyson brought back. And now that he thought about it, the moonlace too. But still). They  
were about the size of his fist, maybe slightly smaller, and every color they wore complemented the lake and the naiad as well. 

“I forgot these,” the naiad explained, and handed him the armful. “What do you think of them?”

“They’re awesome.” He winced at his word choice. Annabeth would be facepalming right now. “I mean, they’re beautiful.”

She smiled. “Indeed.” Then she went back to seaweed crowning. “Grab three of the flowers.”

“Oh,” Percy said, and fumbled to follow her order. 

She chuckled softly, which sounded weird and warbled underwater, but still sweet. “Now pluck off the leaves; they’ll only get in the way.”

He did, watching as they went from dry to wet the moment he dropped them.

“Match them up with each other, make sure they’re all even.”

Percy did so, and then she pointed to a strand of the seaweed. “Now tie them together- loosely, mind you- and make sure the flowers are still level.”

Percy’s hands weren’t nearly as coordinated as hers and still fumbled. He hissed when he accidentally dropped one of the flowers. She made it look so easy. “I’m not very good at this.”

“Nonsense,” she said, chuckling. She handed him the flower. “Everyone has to start somewhere.”

“Ah, I guess.” Percy tried again, smiling a little when he got it. 

“Take the left stem of the flower and pull it over like this- your other left, silly- pull it over so it ends up between the middle and right stems. There, you’ve got it! Quite easily. I’m surprised, I-” Her face brightened as she realized something. “Aw, I didn’t know the hero of Olympus could braid!”

He blushed, but kept his focus on braiding. “My mom taught me. She wanted me to be ready for Estelle.”

“Estelle?”

“My baby sister.” Just the thought of her made him grin. Percy didn’t know why he was telling a random naiad he’d just met this stuff, but it felt nice. She didn’t seem like an enemy, just someone trying to help. It was comforting, knowing that not everyone was out to kill Percy or was too scared of his status to talk to him. 

“How sweet,” she said excitedly, making Percy blush harder. “What braids do you know?”

Percy’s grin grew. “My mom taught me the fish tail first, because she thought it was funny.”

The naiad gave a little laugh. “Cute.”

“Then she taught me dutch and french,” he continued. Then he laughed. “She also taught me how to do pigtails. They were funny to see on her, but it was still fun. She wanted me to know everything.” 

The naiad smiled, showing her teeth this time. “Your mother sounds amazing.”

“Yeah, she’s the best.” Percy felt better just talking about her. 

The naiad pointed to the braid, which was now about an inch long. “Stop braiding right… there. This is the hard part, so pay attention. No worries if you don’t get it the first time.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“Add another flower to the left stem, just beneath the one that is already in the braid. Bring both stems over so that they end up between the right and the middle stems. Keep them together,  
because they will count as one stem.”

Percy nodded. “Now what?”

“Do the same with the right stem, and then keep repeating back and forth until you reach your desired length.”

“Okay,” he said hesitantly, focused so intently on the crown that his eyes crossed. He shook his head to clear it, then sheepishly looked over at her. “Could you guide me through it? Just the first  
couple of steps? I’ll figure it out from there, I think.”

The naiad chuckled again, taking the crown. “Of course.”

She slowly demonstrated the steps she’d described, looking at him with each step to make sure she wasn’t going too fast. 

When he felt he understood it enough, he took it back again and tried again. It only took a couple more times of her explaining it to him and him failing before he finally got it. 

“That seems big enough, don’t you think?” she asked. 

It did, so Percy nodded and stopped adding more flowers. 

“Perfect. We have three steps left, and then you’re ready to go.” She showed him her crown, which was at the same place in the process of being made. “You take this end, and like the beginning, tie a strand of seaweed around the end, tightly this time. You don’t want it to unravel, right?”

“Right.” Percy tied the knot as tightly as he could, ignoring the slimy texture. 

“Now just bring the ends together and overlap it until it's comfortable on your head.” She helped bring it around his head and pinched the spot where it worked the best, keeping the ends together when she took it off. Then she handed it to him, saying, “Now just wrap seaweed around both ends to hold them together. Like this.”

She threaded the seaweed through her crown and bound it all together. “You try it with yours.”

It took a lot of mistakes and trying to avoid crushing the flowers before he finally got it. 

“Now just tuck the extra seaweed into the crown, and you’re done!” she said, doing so with hers and placing it on her head. A goofy smile spread across her face as it tilted. 

“Whoops. I guess it’s a bit too big for me.” She took it off and fiddled with it. “But yours is perfect!”

“I haven’t even tried it on, yet.” Percy grinned as he tucked the remainder of the seaweed behind the nearest flower.

She grabbed it and put it on his head, her eyes lighting up with delight that made him blush. “I was right. It’s perfect.”

He shook his head, his grin just growing. “Do you want it?”

“Psh, no.” She held hers out to him. “Take mine.”

“Wait, what?” Percy asked, confused. “Why? Don’t you want it?”

A sly grin grew on her face. “I may or may not have made it too big on purpose.”

“But why?” He took his own off and stared at it. “All that work-” 

She cut him off. “It’s for the blonde one.”

“The blonde…” Percy trailed off, reddening as he realized. “Oh.”

She chuckled, placing her crown on his. “I thought you too should match. I did put more of the pretty silver ones in hers, though. To match her eyes, and the grey streak you both have. I gave you the green ones because they match your eyes.”

“Why are you doing all this?” He was genuinely curious, maybe a little suspicious. Most of the time random strangers helped him out, it was for their own agenda- one that most of the time, led to Percy and his friends getting hurt in some way. 

It was her turn to blush. “I… am the number one Percabeth fan.”

He blinked. What? “Percabeth?”

She nodded, hiding her blush behind the leftover flowers. “Since day one. You guys were so cute, I could not help myself. She had a crush on you, I could tell. You liked her back, but I don’t think you knew it yet. I have been kind of… watching you since. Growing closer, getting into fights. Growing closer again. Your underwater kiss? So romantic,” she gushed. “Young love. The cutest.”

Percy’s face felt as hot as the day he’d been kissed by Annabeth. “You…”

“Anyways, I, erm, I saw you today, without her. All alone, and I thought you might need some cheering up. So, here you go.” She started gathering up her materials, her blush spreading to her ears. 

“Stop looking at me like that, I wasn’t the only naiad who thought you were cute together! And I was not stalking. You just happened to be around when I saw you guys together, I swear it.”

Percy felt a grin form on his face as he looked down at the other crown. She was right, the silver flowers matched Annabeth’s eyes- startlingly beautiful and rare. “Thank you. That’s really… Thank you, um…?”

“Lorelai,” she said, putting the materials in a seaweed-woven basket with a smile. “And you’re welcome. Now go up there and give it to her. She’s probably worried about you.”

Percy started. Right. A lot of time had passed since he’d sunk underneath the lake, and he knew if he’d woken up and Annabeth wasn’t there, he would freak the freak out. “Schist. Right. Oh, gods, she’s going to kill me!”

“See you, Lorelai!” Percy called to his new friend as he kicked off the ground. “Stop stalking people!” 

He laughed as she spluttered, then broke the surface of the water. 

Lorelai was right about Annabeth being worried. She was pacing the sand of the lake, hands tugging at her hair and teeth biting her lip. Sand flew up around her feet as they worked furiously back and forth. She was muttering something about monsters and death and stupid boyfriends. Percy silently came up, as to not startle her, and tentatively grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Where were you?” she demanded angrily, jabbing his chest. Her eyes were sparking with anger and locked on his. “I was beyond my mind with worry! I checked your cabin, but you weren’t there!  
And then- are those flower crowns?”

Percy grinned. There were some benefits to ADHD diagnosed girlfriends. “I made one for you.”

“Stop grinning, Seaweed Brain!” Schist. She really was mad. “I was worried sick! You, you-” Her voice cracked, and her next words were but a whisper. “You died, Percy. I… I thought you died.”

Percy sighed and just hugged her. “I’m sorry, okay? I had a dream like that too. I didn’t want to wake you, so I went to the lake and…”

“Made those,” she finished for him. “How did you manage that, anyway?” 

Percy grinned, putting the flower crown atop her head. “Apparently we have a fan club.”

Annabeth’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and irritation as she took it off. “What?”

He told the story of meeting the naiad and her teaching him. He left out the part where he was having a panic attack, but judging from the look in Annabeth’s eyes, she knew it already. 

She looked up at the crown after, grinning from ear to ear. “Seaweed Brain.”

With his own crooked grin, he grabbed her crown and placed it on her head again. “Mrs. Seaweed Brain.”

Annabeth fiddled with the ring on her finger excitedly. “Soon, you goofball. Soon.”

“WHAT?” a voice demanded, effectively ruining both the moment and making them jump. They turned to see Lorelai’s head poking out of the lake water, her mouth gaping and her eyes furious. 

“How long were you engaged? How have I not heard of this? Why was I not there? I-”

She let out an irritated growl and threw her hands up in the air. “Of course I miss the most important moment in their relationship. Of course.”

Percy looked at Annabeth, silently asking permission. 

She just laughed, taking off her ring and giving it to him. He knelt to the ground, an honest to gods cheesy grin on his face- very much like the one he’d had the first time he’d proposed. 

“Annabeth Chase, my Wise Girl, my best friend, my other half. We’ve been through hell together, we’ve saved each other’s lives so many times you are my life. And I want to be a permanent part of yours. So, what do you say? Stay with this Seaweed Brain for eternity? Will you marry me?”

Annabeth couldn’t stop the tears from filling her eyes, even though she’d already heard this before. “Yes, Percy. No matter how many times you ask, I will always say yes. A thousand times, yes. Yes, yes, yes!”

Percy slipped the ring on her finger, then swooped her into the air and twirled her around excitedly. He let her down gently and gave her a bear hug. “Gods I love you.”

“You better,” she said, smiling as she pressed her lips against his. 

Once the kiss broke off, Annabeth’s eyes lit up with an idea. “I’ve got it!”

Ever the Seaweed Brain, Percy was confused. “What?”

She pecked him on the cheek. “I know why we were having such a hard time when we came back!”

“Oh, right.” Percy’d forgotten all about that. “Why?”

“We weren’t together!” she exclaimed. “We should just sleep in the same cabin. I could take yours, since it’s so empty all the time. Now that we’re engaged, Chiron should approve. What do you  
think?”

He grinned. “Yes! You’re a genius, Annabeth!” 

He kissed her before she could agree, but she wasn’t very upset about it. 

Lorelai clasped her hands together and sighed. “My work here is done.”

She slipped underneath the water, smiling as she realized she had more tea to give the others. “They won’t refuse me the position of president of Percabeth now.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a cute little one-shot I came up with. Props to WikiHow for the instructions- I've never actually made a flower crown, so most of the instructions come from that. I've always wanted to write about Percabeth, but was always too intimidated. But I shook it off and tried something new? What do you think? (Comment below, they always make me smile.)  
> Anyways, thanks for reading. Love you!


End file.
